The Lions haven't worked out an extension with Ndamukong Suh with just one day until the start of free agency, but the club isn't panicking.AP File Photo

The Detroit Lions wanted to have an extension done with Ndamukong Suh by around the eve of free agency.

That day has arrived, and the sides aren't believed to be anywhere close to having a deal in place. But the Lions aren't panicking.

General manager Martin Mayhew stressed last month he would like to have a deal done with Suh by Tuesday, when teams can begin signing free agents at 4 p.m., but that he would not consider it a setback if an agreement had not been reached.

"If you go back to the last two we did, the big deals that were extensions with Matthew (Stafford) and Calvin (Johnson), Matthew's was done after the start of free agency and Calvin's was done on the eve of free agency," Mayhew said. "I wouldn't be surprised if this one happened the same way, in that same time frame - on the eve of free agency or into free agency."

Suh's negotiations were delayed when he took more than a month to hire a new agent. He fired Roosevelt Barnes on Jan. 23, and didn't replace him until Friday.

He elected to sign with CAA's Jimmy Sexton, a powerful agent known for his ties to the coaching community.

The Lions want to extend their star defensive tackle in order to reduce his $22.4 million cap hit for 2014. They likely will have to make Suh the league's highest paid defensive tackle to get a deal done, a notion to which some have balked because Detroit already has handed mega-deals to Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford.

Others think Detroit is better served investing that kind of money at a position other than defensive tackle.

The team maintains that it wants to get a deal done, though, and won't considering trading Suh if a pact doesn't materialize.

"I haven't really given (a trade) any thought," Mayhew said last month. "I anticipate we'll get something done. He said he wants to be here, and we'd like him to be here. That's my mind-set right now."